Modi government notifies rules for land acquisition bill 2013, passed by UPA

NEW DELHI: Ending months of uncertainty, the Narendra Modi government has notified rules for Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013, passed by Congress-led UPA government.

The notification operationalises the Act and helps in getting clarity for the industry on land acquisition front.

The rules, notified on Friday, have specified the limit of land beyond which compensation would need to be paid to the affected persons.

The notified rules say that rehabilitation and resettlement under the Act would apply where a private company purchases land equal to or more than 20 hectares (50 acres) in urban areas and forty hectares (100 acres) in rural areas.

This specification could prove to be contentious for the government as the department of land resources under UPA government had decided to strike this limit off from the Act after a directive from the standing committee examining the Bill.

An official involved in the drafting of 2013 Bill told ET, "This would prove contentious as the Centre cannot tell states what to do with their land. It is a purely state subject. So the Centre cannot set a limit."

Though the rules have brought clarity in the procedure and other details of acquisition and resettlement, they have added new bureaucratic processes in acquisition.After completion of social impact assessment and recommendation of an expert group as specified under the Act, a private company would file a request for acquisition to the collector with detailed project report, sanction letter of project, copies of record of rights and revenue maps of the area and information about classification of land.

The collector would constitute a committee of officers, which would make preliminary inquiry regarding availability of waste or arid land, correctness of the request, bare minimum land required and whether the request is consistent with provisions of the Act.

It would submit a report to the collector and on the basis of this report, the private company would be asked to deposit the estimated cost of acquisition or a part in the office of collector. After this, the preliminary notification for acquisition would be issued.

Speaking to ET, Secretary (Land Resources) Vijay S Madan said, "The ministry has notified rules of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013. Even though there is an amendment Bill in Parliament, there is an Act which is in place. So far, no rules had been notified for the 2013 Act. With this notification, we have operationalised the Act."